In this post, I will discuss the Aarakocra race, a race that is very interesting as well as extremely useful when playing a DND game. A winged people who originated on the Elemental Plane of Air, aarakocra soar through the sky wherever they wander. The first aarakocra served the Wind Dukes of Aaqa-mighty beings of air-and were imbued with a measure of their masters’ power over winds. Their descendants still command echoes of that power.
From below, aarakocra look like large birds and thus are sometimes called birdfolk. Only when they roost on a branch or walk across the ground is their Humanoid nature clear. Standing upright, aarakocra are typically about 5 feet tall, and they have long, narrow legs that taper to sharp talons. Feathers cover their bodies-usually red, orange, yellow, brown, or gray. Their heads are also avian, often resembling those of parrots or eagles.
Aarakocra Traits
As an aarakocra, you have the following racial traits.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Flight. Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walkin speed. You can’t use this flying speed if you’re wearing medium or heavy armor.
Talons. You have talons that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals ld6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Wind Caller. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the gust of wind spell with this trait, without requiring a material component. Once you cast the spell with this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of 2nd level or higher.
Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spell casting ability for it when you cast gust of wind with this trait (choose when you select this race).
Creature Type
Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race in this chapter tells you what your character’s creature type is.
Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.
Life Span
The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race in this book can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race’s description.
Height And Weight
Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.